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Now Ms McCann's flowery handiwork has meant a £600 cash boost for injured servicemen and woman charity, Help For Heroes.

She said: "My son was killed in the Army 14 years ago — every year since then I have given money in Robert's name.

"I crocheted a poppy last year and people started asking me for them — since May I've made 800 of them."

Ms CaCann's son, Lance Corporal Robert Porte, was on a diving training course in Cyprus when he was killed in a boating accident in 1999.

In memory of the fallen soldier, who had served in Angola, the Falklands and Bosnia, Ms McCann began raising funds for military charities alongside her other fundraising work — over the years her crocheting, sewing and baking skills have benefited a range of causes from the Army Benevolent Fund to Skewen Medical Centre, special needs pupils at Blaenbaglan Primary School and the Maasai of eastern Africa.

Along with the £600 Help For Heroes donation, Ms McCann also raised £500 for BanglaCymru — a charity which funds cleft palate operations in Bangladesh — with her homemade poppies.

Ms McCann, who is secretary of the ladies section of the Skewen Over 60s Club as well as a member of the Longford-based Helping Hands knitting club, said: "I have always supported charities — I have done it for the last 51 years.